Sweet Potato and Black Bean Ranchero Enchiladas

I love enchiladas. This is my latest- and my first take on a red sauce. Love the contrast of the black beans and the creamy sweet potato (THANK YOU KRISTEN FOR THE TIP TO PUREE THEM!!). Also, the combination of salty, spicy, sweet, and smokey! It is a bit of a beast to make, I just can't get the same flavors when I take short cuts, especially on steps like sweating the garlic and onions. I'd love for recipes in real cookbooks to be like mine, where they admit that it takes FOREVER to cook them down, if you want them to be truly tasty. Just saying.

Sauce
1 28-oz. can tomato sauce
2 ancho chiles in adobo sauce
handful of cilantro leaves
2 cloves garlic
1/2 white onion, or shallot
Shake chili powder
Shake dried oregano
Shake chipotle chile powder
shake cumin
salt & pepper to taste
(If I have a jalepeno lying around next time, or a green chile, I might add that too)


Filling
1 ½ lb. sweet potatoes, Roasted & Pureed, set aside
Extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, diced (1 cup)- or a shallots and onion combo
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes (I use muir glen with smoked tomato and green chiles in it)
3 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
1 or 2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, drained and minced
1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
handful of cilantro
1 12-oz. round queso fresco, divided
Squeeze of lime
generous shakes of cumin and chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

Enchiladas
tortillas
lime wedges for garnish
1 avocado, sliced for garnish
½ cup sour cream, for garnish
Cilantro sprigs, for garnish

1. Roast the Sweet Potatoes at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes, until they are so soft the skin scrapes away easily.

2. Meanwhile, start sweating the onions and garlic for the filling in a small amount of olive oil on the stove. If they begin to burn, add some veg or chicken stock.

3. While the sweet potatoes roast and the onions cook down, make the sauce in a cuisinart. Puree, taste, and adjust seasonings and heat. Reserve in a bowl.

4. Once the garlic and onions cook down, add the tomatoes, chipotle chile, cilantro, and simmer. Add black beans, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in half of queso fresco, and remove from heat.

5. Puree the sweet potatoes and set aside.

3. To assemble Enchiladas: Turn oven down to 350ºF. Spread 1/2 cup of Sauce in bottom of baking dish. Fill tortillas with Filling. Roll, and pack close together seam-side down in baking dish. Top with remaining Sauce and leaves of cilantro, and bake 25 minutes. Sprinkle with queso fresco and bake 5-10 minutes more, until cheese melts.

4. Adjust oven to broil. Broil Enchiladas 2-5 minutes, or until cheese is browned and bubbly. Be careful not to burn! Let rest 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with lime wedges, avocado slices, sour cream, and cilantro sprigs, if using.

I served this with a side salad of spinach.

Roast Eggplants with Lemon and Thyme

Delicious and beautiful!

Ingredients:
Baby italian eggplants, rinsed and split in half with stem in tact
1-2 large shallots
3 large cloves of garlic
olive oil
thyme
lemon
salt & pepper
mushrooms

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Use your hands to coat the eggplants with the olive oil. Place in a baking dish and surround with the garlic, mushrooms, and shallots. Sprinkle with the thyme, lemon, and salt and pepper.

3. Roast for about 40 minutes, until the flesh easily pulls away from the eggplant.

4. Scoop out and eat as a side or add to pasta!

Stuffed Portabello Mushroom with Couscous

(Photo: Veg Times)

Another excellent recipe adapted from the Vegetarian Times!

Ingredients:

2 large portobello mushrooms per person, stemmed
2-3 shallots (or leeks, or any other type of onion), thinly sliced
4-6 cloves garlic
Tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme
1 bag of Baby Spinach
Goat Cheese
Pine nuts
lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper
couscous (or Farro)
breadcrumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 Degrees. Rub olive oil over the mushrooms and place on a baking sheet, gill side down. Roast 10 minutes, until mushrooms begin to soften, and then turn over.

2. Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium low heat. Sweat the garlic and
shallots or leeks slowly, until tender and translucent. Add in the thyme and continue to cook until the leaves soften into the oil. Add in handfuls of spinach and allow to wilt. Season with lemon, salt, and pepper.

3. Stir in goat cheese and pine nuts until the cheese melts. Fill mushrooms with mixture, mounding on top and packing filling down. Optional: top with breadcrumbs

4. Bake 25 minutes until filling browns.

5. Prepare couscous or farro according to the directions.

6. Prepare a green veggie side like asparagus or green beans, if desired.

7. To serve: spoon couscous or farro onto plate, and top with a mushroom and side of green veggies!

Dill Dip

Fresh Dill- Several generous handfuls
3 cloves poached garlic
salt and pepper- lots of pepper
1 shallot
small container greek yogurt
tablespoon mayo
1-2 tablespoons sour cream (if desired)
celery and other veggies, cut for dipping

I love cooking things that take only a handful of ingredients and a few minutes in the kitchen, and taste great! This recipe is one of those gems that I can whip up after work for an awesome snack.

Poached garlic:
I recommend poached garlic, rather than raw, to take some of the bite out, but leave the flavor. For the same reason, I prefer shallot to raw onion. To poach the garlic, peel and boil for about 10 minutes. I like to do large batches of this and leave it in the fridge, as well as mix it into butter and mayonnaise. I use it all the time!! Since the garlic will now be soft and mushy, I can spread it on toast, smash it in the bottom of a pan before I saute green beans or garlic, or mix it into mashed potato.

Anyway, to make the dip:

In a food processor, scoop in the yogurt, the mayo and/or sour cream, throw in the garlic, roughly chopped shallot, the dill, and season. Blend, taste, and adjust.

Cut up radish, celery, carrot, etc, and eat! The best part: If you are using lowfat yogurt and only small amounts of mayo and sour cream, this is actually a super healthy, low fat dish!!

Black Sesame Noodles

Tonight I wanted to try a recipe from my newest cookbook: A Year In a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop (Thanks Stacey & Austin for introducing us!). So I decided to try to make Black Sesame Noodles. It was deeeee-licious. Not too many changes, but a few Lora Dever touches here and there...!

Black Sesame Sauce
1/4 cup black sesame seeds
1/4 cup smooth natural peanut butter
2 medium garlic cloves
1 tablespoon grated fresh gingerroot
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup hot water
1/8 cup tamari (or 1/4 cup soy)
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

For Pasta:
Salt
linguine
1/2 medium cucumber, peeled and grated through a box grater
1-2 medium carrots, peeled and grated
3-4 medium radishes, grated
Diced red pepper
chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon toasted black sesame seeds (reserved from 1/4 cup, above)

Directions:

1. For pasta: Bring water to a boil in a large pot and salt generously

2. For the sauce: toast the seeds for a few minutes over medium heat, stirring, careful not to burn. Reserve 1 teaspoon of the seeds. Pour all the sauce ingredients into a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.

3. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and toss with the sesame sauce. Add cucumber, carrot, pepper, and radish. Salt, and top with reserved sesame seeds and cilantro.

I used the extra sauce for baked tofu, which made for an excellent marinade!!! Ryan paired it with some pork dumplings from a local chinese restaurant, also a super tasty idea!

Happy Anniversary: 2 years of Green Eating!

I wanted to take a moment to celebrate my 2nd anniversary of veggie-dom! It's been a pretty awesome year, with lots of new delicious veggie recipes making their way onto the blog, and mastering nutrition in the dead of winter. I can't believe my one month experiment has turned into such a comfortable lifestyle, but the more I know, the more I stand by my decision! It's been perhaps a strange coincidence that since I turned veg, I've made four really close friends who are veggies too, and some days it seems like we will soon rule the world.

Even Ryan, initially the most meat-and-potatoes-man on earth, now eats veg 3-4 nights a week. Perhaps he's just gotten lazy. Maybe it has to do with our grill running out of gas. But I think the cute baby pig argument is also finally getting to him. Big Softee.

Even my family seems to be trending toward 'less meat', and kudos to them. Who needs to eat adorable farm animals anyway!?!

Can't wait to try some more recipes in year 3... ! Stay tuned!!

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

This recipe is from my dad and stepmom, vis a vis Martha Stewart. I've made almost no changes- except to perhaps shake slightly more cumin on top, and leave some seeds in to kick up the spice. I've also paired it with a nice salad. Oh yes, and heed the warning below!!

Ingredients:
1 can(s) (28-ounce) whole tomatoes in puree
1 jalapeño chile, seeds in for heat, seeds out for a little less
2 small onions, chopped
3 clove(s) garlic, 2 whole, 1 minced
Coarse salt
Ground pepper
1 can(s) (19-ounce) black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup(s) yellow cornmeal
1 cup(s) shredded pepper Jack cheese
A really good shake of ground cumin
Handful of Cilantro leaves, garnish
sour cream, garnish, optional
4 large poblano chiles, halved lengthwise, stems left intact (for pretty, if you want), ribs and seeds removed

**** DO NOT TOUCH PEPPERS WITH YOUR HANDS --- YOU WILL DIE***** NO, REALLY. Put on gloves, or use sandwich bags- try not to touch the seeds. No amount of scrubbing will get the burn off your fingers- and then you will touch your eye, or nose, or mouth... and no bueno. You have been warned!


Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a blender, combine tomatoes in puree, jalapeño, half the onions, and 2 whole garlic cloves; puree. Season with salt.

Pour 3/4 of the sauce into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine beans, cornmeal, 1/2 cup cheese, remaining onions, minced garlic, cumin, and 3/4 cup water; season with salt and pepper.

Dividing evenly, stuff poblano halves with bean mixture; place on top of sauce in baking dish.

Sprinkle poblanos with remaining 1/2 cup cheese; cover baking dish tightly with aluminum foil.
Bake until poblanos are tender, about 45 minutes.

Uncover, and continue to cook until sauce is thickened slightly and cheese is browned, 10 to 15 minutes more. Let cool 10 minutes.

Garnish as desired and serve with yellow rice and avocado or mixed green salad with a cilantro-lime vinaigrette!!